World Mosquito Day

[Ülev]

World Mosquito Day, observed annually on 20 August, is a commemoration of British doctor Sir Ronald Ross's discovery in 1897 that female mosquitoes transmit malaria between humans.[1] Ross is responsible for the annual observance, having declared shortly after his discovery that the day should be known as World Mosquito Day in the future.[1]

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine holds Mosquito Day celebrations every year, including events such as parties and exhibitions, a tradition dating back to as early as the 1930s.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Mosquito_Day


https://youtu.be/LPfK3XEnuDU

[Bellbeaking]

Acclaimed researchers suggest that half of the 108 Billion humans to ever live have been killed by mosquitoes (https://www.nature.com/news/2002/021001/full/news021001-6.html) and the diseases they impart. According the nature articles sources, they kill 1-2 million people per year.

A theory of mine is that, considering how deadly mosquitoes are, we may have evolved to be very averse to them innately not just as a learned behavior. Think how annoying the sound of a mosquito is, only a babies cry rivals its sound in annoyingness, and we have certainly evolved to become agitated at the sound human babies make when distressed.

This great article suggests we should eliminate them entirely: https://quillette.com/2018/09/07/exterminate-mosquitos-for-the-sake-of-humanity/ I found the part where it argues against negative consequences of eliminating them interesting.


Extinctions happen all the time without us even noticing. There are an estimated 2.6 to 7.8 million species of insects. Losing a hundred of them would make only a tiny ripple in the ecosystem. After all, over 99 percent of species that have ever existed have gone extinct. Mosquitoes do provide food for other creatures, but whatever ended up taking over the ecological niche of the departed bloodsuckers would probably also play a role in the food chain. If we are worried about the loss of diversity, we could eliminate the human-biting mosquitoes and spend a few million dollars helping, say, endangered beetles.

Sure, there are unknown unknowns with eliminating some mosquitoes. The ecosystem involves complex interdependencies and exterminating a few insect species could have unforeseeable negative consequences. But the unknown unknowns of keeping the mosquitoes are probably even worse. Who knows what new diseases human-biting mosquitoes might bring, especially if climate change expands their numbers or causes them to pick up additional parasites.

Just in case, we could keep some lab samples of the exterminated insects and release them back into the environment if we come to think they were beneficial. I think, however, that this is about as likely as us wanting to reintroduce smallpox into our population.

We could eliminate these mosquitoes would be using gene editing to release loads of very attractive mosquitoes, that produce very attractive male offspring. These mosquitoes would be edited to only produce males, thus each generation would have less females until there are none left, and thus mosquitoes would be extinct.


The Gates Foundation is reportedly looking into ways of using gene drives to destroy some mosquito species. The biggest barrier, however, might be political. The Foundation supposedly hired a PR firm to try to convince academics and UN decision makers to be more favorably disposed to deploying gene drives.

[Daco Celtic]

I won't let Mosquitoes dictate my life, my pool parties, and my outdoor barbecues. Not on my watch.

[Ülev]

https://youtu.be/qO8pCxYzGU4

[Satem]

Only good thing about mosquitos is that they are food for some birds, bats and spiders.

[Ülev]

Only good thing about mosquitos is that they are food for some birds, bats and spiders.

good idea, indeed


https://youtu.be/MVYDTybkCAw

[♥ Lily ♥]

Could serenading mosquitoes help stop the spread of malaria?

26/08/19

http://i.picasion.com/resize89/7129c7505f64f6229847a753d7627f2a.png

'It's a hot evening - often near water - and you hear that familiar mosquito buzz...

That noise is actually a love song for the bug, with both female and male mosquitoes belting out different tones to find mates.

Researchers are trying to learn to "speak mosquito" so they can lure them away from populated areas
or design devices to catch and kill them - helping to reduce the spread of malaria and yellow fever.'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-49384857/could-serenading-mosquitoes-help-stop-the-spread-of-malaria


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu7yQQZxby0&frags=pl%2Cwn